Boys' Basketball: Press powers Gilbert past PCM

Friday

GILBERT — No matter where Prairie City-Monroe tried to go with the ball Friday night, a Gilbert defender always seemed to be in the way.

Gilbert won by a final score of 70-59, improving to 4-0 on the season, thanks in large part to a suffocating full-court press that led to turnovers and easy buckets for the Tigers all night.

Gilbert and PCM were neck-and-neck early. The Tigers led 14-13 after the first quarter. Both teams had small runs to take leads, but neither team could separate from the other. That changed in the second quarter.

“That was absolutely great, that second quarter,” said Gilbert coach BJ Terrones. “I think we outscored them by 11 points in that second quarter, and that proved to be the difference in the game.”

Gilbert scored three of the first four field goals in the second quarter, thanks to buckets from junior Matthew Ockey along with seniors Will Turner and Matt Barragy.

Led by Turner, Gilbert went on a 12-4 run to end the first half. Turner had 12 first-half points to pace the Tigers, who took a 35-23 lead into the break.

“That's something we really stress,” said Turner, who finished with 16 points. “We wanna get out stops, and we wanna finish out halves and quarters. That starts at the defensive end, and I thought we were able to get some good stops.”

PCM went on a 9-0 run to begin the second half, but Gilbert responded.

“We kinda just stopped playing for a few minutes,” said Ockey, who led the Tigers with 18 points. “Once we realized that, we got right back to business.”

A 3-pointer from sophomore Tanner Henningsen ended the Tigers' scoring drought. After another PCM bucket cut the lead to three again, Ockey took over.

The junior scored seven unanswered points in just 35 seconds, thanks to PCM turnovers and a technical foul against PCM's Reed Worth.

By the time PCM caught its breath, the three-point deficit had turned into double digits. The full-court press continued to stifle the Mustangs, who turned the ball over numerous times and were whistled for a 10-second violation once.

“That's our focus,” Terrones said. “That's been our focus since the first practice that we've had this year. We're really trying to work on our man-to-man defense. We really pride ourselves in working together, playing together in our man-to-man defense and it really showed there in that third quarter and fourth quarter.”

The Tigers closed out the game late, extending the lead to as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter. Other than 28 points from Reed Worth, the Mustangs struggled against the pressure and were unable to convert in transition.

PCM brought the score back within seven points with 1:05 to play, but ultimately the Mustangs' comeback attempt fell short. Henningsen and senior Jeff Rudman combined to hit 5-of-6 free throw attempts in the final 20 seconds to preserve Gilbert's win.

“PCM's tough,” Turner said. “We always battle them. They're always tough, they never back down, so that's a big one for sure.”

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